The Serpent Tempts Eve

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lard had made.  And he said unto the woman…” (KJV).

2 Corinthians 2:11  “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us:  for we are not ignorant of his devices” (KJV).

Whoa!  Wait a minute!  Snakes cannot talk!  Well, maybe during the Age of Innocence, all creatures communicated to each other using the same language.  That might make sense.

However, there is always a question of why a creature that was created by God would turn against his creator.  The serpent was said to be crafty and sly.  This is even true about snakes today.  They slither silently on their bellies.  You may  not see them when they slide by.  However, there is another side to the serpent that deceived Eve.  Take a look at the following verses:

Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Revelation 20:2 “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”

Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

It shows that Satan and the serpent are connected.  While Satan was not actually present in the garden with Adam and Eve, he was using the serpent to do his bidding.  Satan is like that; he talks with a smooth tongue and deceives people into temptation and sin.  Without realizing it all humans-even the strongly devout Christians-fall into the sin trap.

The serpent talked to Eve rather than Adam.  He knew that Eve would be easily deceived;  Adam would be a more difficult task, since God directly told Adm “of every tree of the garden though mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die” (KJV).

When the serpent questions Eve, asking if she is not allowed to eat of any tree, she refers to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as the tree which is in the middle of the garden.  The Bible does not state who told Eve which tree not to touch.  If God was the one, he would have told her exactly what he commanded Adam.  If he did then she would have known the importance of the tree.  Therefore, it is most likely that Adam passed on God’s order.

If Eve had known about the importance of the tree, she would have ignored the serpent.  However, the serpent knew what Eve did not know and played with her in order to get her to do his will.

The serpent impiles that God is lying by telling Eve that she will not die if she eats the fruit from the tree.  As a matter of fact, she will become like God; she will know what is good and what is evil.

As verse 22 in the third chapter in Genesis states, “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever.”  Therefore, the serpent was not really lieing when he told Eve that she would become like God.  However, he deliberately failed to tell her that there would be severe consequences for disobeying God.

Satan is a great strategist.  He had to think things through before approaching Eve.  He had to figure out the best way for her to disobey God.  Therefore he used the snake to talk to her.  He used the body of the snake, something that God created and called good.  Eve probably thought of the snake as something good as well, so she wasn’t threatened by it.  It is not like today if we see a snake we might scream, run from it, try to find ways to kill it and so on.  The snake originally was good until Satan corrupted it.

One of the ways Satan gets by the radar trap is that he disguises himself.  He can disguise himself as a man of God.  Take a look at the different religious cult where people are deceived by the leader and listen to his teachings rather that God’s words from the Bible.  Some of these cults can be life threatening when the leaders convince his followers to die for him.  Some examples include Jim Jones and David Koresh.  These men were deceived and influenced by Satan.  He convinced them to be false ministers and to preach a false gospel as Galatians 1:6-10 (KJV) says:

6.  I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7.  Which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

8.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9.  As we said before, so say now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

10.  For do I now persuade men, or God?  Or do I seek to please men?  For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Why were the followers of the above cults so easily persuaded to not only follow the leaders and eventually die for them?  Shouldn’t they have run in the opposite direction if what the leaders were preaching to them not in the Bible?  No because it is very easy to fall into the trap.  There have been some Christians who join with a cult with the intention to expose it  as a cult.  Even ones who know the Bible inside and out can fall victim to Satan’s lies.

Not every cult ends in a mass suicide.  If those two leaders had decided not to end their and their followers’ lives, those cults could have grown and have branched out to more people finding countless more who opposed the true gospel.

As I am writing this, I can the different ways Satan has influenced me throughout my life.  He has given me discouragement, especially when I fall into my daily routines.  I have a routine that is pretty much the same each day.  While at times I am fine with this, there are times when I get bored.  I get depressed thinking that my life sucks-excuse the language.  I find myself wishing that I had more in my life.  I might turn from God and focus on idols.  For me it might be a book or a television show.  However, when I constantly watching TV or reading a book I am not focusing on God.

Satan deceived Eve by questioning God’s words.  He twisted His words and this raised doubts in Eve’s mind.  He made it seem like God was not sharing his full creation by not allowing them to eat the fruit from the tree that was in the middle of the garden-the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  As he continued telling lies and saying things that disputed God’s words, Eve began to doubt the truth of the Lord.  Rather than telling the serpent to go away, she began to believe his lies over God’s truth

There have been times when I have found doubts about God creeping in.  There are times when an atheist might bring up a question like why do we not see God or hear him talk to us or why people never see him.  They might also ask why Jesus has not come back like he promised over 2,000 years ago.  Sometimes, as I am looking forward to a heavenly home one day, I might get a though such as “What if there is no God?”  One time I even heard a voice telling me that there was no God?  That time I was in a spiritual battle for a few moments since this was actually a voice.  I soon realized that this was Satan’s voice and I told him to go away and he did.  That is not the only voice I heard.  One time, while I was driving to work I heard an audible voice and the voise said, “You are going to heaven.”  Whenever I have doubts, I have to remind myself that God spoke to me audibly.  He didn’y tell me when, but I will be there someday.  Whenever I have doubts, it is Satan trying to break through.  I guess I am stronger in a way than Eve.  However, during the Ageof Innocence, lies and deception were not there before Satan stuck his nose in.